Course-503: LEARNING LANGUAGES AT ELEMENTARY LEVEL

ASSIGNMENT-I

Q1. Explain the meaning of ‘fine motor skills’. How these skills can be developed
in
children?

Ans. Fine motor skills involve the use of the smaller muscle of the hands, commonly
in activities like using pencils, scissors, construction with Lego or duplo, doing up
buttons and opening lunch boxes. Fine motor skill efficiency significantly influences
the quality of the task outcome as well as the speed of task performance. Efficient fine
motor skills require a number of independent skills to work together to appropriately
manipulate the object or perform the task.

Fine motor skills let kids perform crucial tasks like reaching and grasping, moving
objects and using tools like crayons, pencils and scissors. As kids get better at using
their hands, their hand-eye coordination improves. They also learn skills they need to
succeed in school, such as drawing and writing. Developing these abilities helps kids
become more independent and understand how their bodies work. And as they learn
how to have an impact on the world around them, their self-esteem may grow, too.

In order to encourage the development of these skills, children should be allowed to

manipulate solid objects as they see fit. Holding, turning, twisting and playing with
objects develops grasping ability in children. Another very important activity that
provides children with enjoyment in addition to developing motor skills, essential for
writing, is drawing. Therefore, children should be encouraged to draw. Children’s
early drawings often resemble meaningless scribbles which later evolve into
discernible shapes and figures.

Apart from drawing, some other activities that help develop the motor skills necessary
for writing include games such as pouring water into a container, stringing beads and
flowers, making objects out of clay or dough, etc. The home environment of the child
provides him/her with enough opportunity to engage in such activities. However, this
is not always the case. Therefore, it is necessary for teachers to help children engage
in such activities wherever required.

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Practicing Letters, Words, Sentences: Generally, it is believed that achievement of
sentence writing is helped by practicing writing letters and then words again and
again. This is true to a certain extent, but if children are made to engage in tedious
repetition of letters and words, they may be disenchanted with writing before they
even begin to write. Therefore, while individual letters and carnivals are useful in
introducing children to writing, they might not be meaningful to children unless their
relationship with whole words or sentences is made clear.

Two things – respecting children’s abilities and creating meaningful contexts in which
they can learn are of great importance in teaching children to write. It is necessary to
appreciate the fact that the child has an immense innate capability to learn language.
They learn their native languages naturally through meaningful social experiences
involving speaking and listening. Similarly, they grasp the rules of writing mostly
through meaningful experiences involving written material.

In teaching, we often act under the assumption that children need to be told
everything and that they would not understand unless they are told. This, however, is
not true. It is necessary to get rid of this mindset and to start respecting the
capabilities of children. Children have a unique ability to write before coming to
school. It is normal for children to create figures and symbols in sand, on the floor or
on paper and to make up stories about them. For them, these drawings are not
meaningless, but rather they represent a unique script through which they express
what they wish to say. Children should be given the opportunity to make full use of
their abilities. Their learning process does not involve joining pieces of knowledge
together to get the complete picture, but in fact it involves the
opposite. The whole picture is formed first, and then the specifics become clear in
different ways. Unless a meaningful whole is supplied, the small specifics, such as
individual letters of the varnmala or alphabet, will not make sense and will be boring.

Or

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Which out of accuracy and fluency in language, you, as a language teacher,
would give priority while facilitating learning of language and why?

Ans. Accuracy is the ability to produce correct sentences using correct grammar and
vocabulary. On the other hand, fluency is the ability to produce language easily and
smoothly. It is very difficult to choose where accuracy should be stressed over fluency
and vice versa.

The level of accuracy of a child at primary level is different from that of an adult. A
child learns language by committing mistakes. A child’s errors help her in learning
and simultaneously even while committing error she is following the rules of
language. For instance, a 3 year old child speaks in order to express herself: Mummy
khilona chahiye hai. khana chahiye hai.

The child knows that every sentence ends with the word “hai” and therefore she uses
“hai” after “chahiye”. As per language rules, “chahiye” is an auxiliary verb. Another
auxiliary verb “tha” is used along with “chahiye”, only in past tense. Although the
child is unaware of this rule but she uses it.

In reference to the learning proficiency, fluency means the ability through which a
child is spontaneously able to express herself by speaking, reading and writing. In
this, emphasis is laid on meaning and context rather than on grammatical errors.
Today a language teacher faces a huge dilemma, as to which out of the two should she
seriously pursue? Both the perspectives are present in front of us.

Traditional teachers give greater importance to accuracy, in language learning. They

force the children to read and write in correct grammatical terms. For this, they test
the children through various periodic assessments. In most of the classes children are
hardly given an opportunity to improve by recognizing their own errors. Examination
centered approach is influenced by this accuracy based perspective.

Another group of teachers believe that language is the medium for expression of
feelings and experiences. They give more importance to fluency. Instead of grammar,
they lay focus on understanding the meaning and reference, along with this, they
emphasize that the children speaking fluently should be able to express themselves in
such a way that the listener understands it correctly. These teachers believe; that since
initiation, the more the child will make use of language, the more her level of fluency
will rise.

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After having a look at both the perspectives, in fact, it seems that both stand correct in
their own place. In order to learn language from an overall perspective, children have
to be skilled in both. Reaching class 10, children start using language with fluency. It
is then that we should focus on accuracy because in child’s language development,
timely and appropriate help plays a very important role.

Q2. Critically analyse the strengths and limitations of any two methods through
which ‘reading’ can be developed as skill among children.

Ans. Some of the methods of teaching reading and their shortcomings are as follows:

(1) Knowing the rules of reading quickly: Actually, there are no rules for reading.
At least none that can be simplified and defined for children. All fluent readers
develop the knowledge necessary to read but they develop it from the effort to read
rather than by being told. This process is akin to the process of the child acquiring
oral language. The child is able to develop the rules for articulation and
comprehension without being taught any formal rules. There is no evidence to suggest
that teaching grammar helps in making children develop the ability to speak. There is
also no evidence indicating that practicing pronunciation or other non-reading tasks
help in developing reading ability.

(2) For reading, the child has to remember rules of pronunciation and follow
them: One view which is widely accepted that the ability to read comes from being
able to link sound to its corresponding symbolic representation. We, however, know
reading does not end or begin at being able to pronounce the text. We have to grasp
the meaning even before we pronounce the word unless we know the word we cannot
speak it. Converting letters to sound is not only unnecessary but also a waste of effort.
If we look carefully, it is obvious that a fluent reader does not get into changing letters
to sounds. Such a process does not help in making meaning; it rather takes one away
from it. In spite of this, it is often argued that children will have to develop
competence in pronunciation of the word, part by part, as per letters used otherwise
they will not be able to recognise words they have not seen earlier.

Some of the enablers for learning to read are as follows:

(1) Contextual reading material: Students need context to learn language and learn
to read. Stories and poems also form interesting contexts. While relating a story a
teacher should stop in between and let students complete what would follow. Many

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important concepts are natural parts of the stories (for example- big, small, near-far,
fat-thin etc.). Students acquire or consolidate them easily through a story. The context
of the story introduces these and when enacted their meaning gets clearer. Besides, the
student gets an opportunity to place herself in different characters and in imaginary
situations. Initially students mimic and copy only the gross visible features of the
characters.

(2) Reading must be purposeful and challenging: Reading material for students
must be useful, meaningful and challenging. Whenever we read something, we read it
for some purpose. These could be, for example, reading for fun, reading due to
curiosity, reading to understand the sequence of events in a story, to know what
happens at the end of story, to learn about, what is happening around and find whether
such materials are even being written or not. If they are given challenges of this kind,
challenges that give them opportunity to learn more, talk about what they have learnt
and share their experiences, they will learn to read faster. If reaching the meaning of a
text to find something that they want to know is a challenge, they will feel inspired to
make an effort.

Or

Enumerate the principles to be followed to choose material for language

laboratories.

Ans. Some important principles that can help the teacher to use materials
appropriately in the classrooms are as follows:

(1) To store the materials properly is essential but it is equally important to ensure
that it can be quickly distributed to children. If children have to get materials and
return them then the system of distribution and collection must involve children. They
must feel responsible and help. Such a participation would also ensure that the total
time taken for distribution and collecting back is not too much.

(2) Material should be easy to reach. Even if only the teacher has to use the material,
the preparations must be made in advance. It is upsetting for children to wait while the
teacher searches for the appropriate material to begin. The continuity and interest in
learning gets broken.

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(3) If we have to use a lot of material then it is better to use them one by one. Only
when there is a need to show a relationship between different materials or show the
reaction between them that we can use them together.

(4) Breakage of materials is possible during use, it is necessary that there is an

acceptance of damage and writing off and replacement of materials in the system.
When children read books handle charts, use chalks or colours these materials will get
torn, broken or consumed. Any system that does not allow for such processes cannot
encourage the use of materials.

(5) It is important to remember that the materials must be used for learning and not
just for display. Materials will not teach on their own; teachers must know which
material is useful in which situation. TLM is only a tool for making lessons
meaningful. The work of choosing teaching materials has to be done by the teacher
keeping the interest and abilities of children in mind.

The various principles or basis of choosing study material are as follows:

(1) The material should be such that they fulfill the educational objectives. That
means they make possible the work that we want to do and the opportunity we want to
provide children. For example, if we want children to develop imagination and
express their ideas in an organized manner, we need to pick up a picture that can give
them this opportunity.

(2) The material should be usable for diverse purposes. We should procure such
materials and prepare teachers so that they can use materials in a flexible way.

(3) The materials should be easily available and require no extra effort. It is also
necessary that they should be available in sufficient quantity and not be expensive.
Children should be able to use it. Models of thermocol that get damaged and break on
touching are not good materials. We must remember that most of the materials should
be for use of children.

(4) The material that children have to use must be such that it does not require very
elaborate precautions. They should not be security hazard.

(5) It is necessary that both teachers and children be participants in the process of
choosing and developing materials. It is not appropriate to pre-decide, choose and
then send materials to the school and teachers.

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(6) Participation of teacher and children in selecting materials is essential. They must
also have opportunity to learn to and think about ways of using the materials in
classrooms.

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ASSIGNMENT-II

Q1. Enumerate the various methods which can be used to facilitate the learning
of language.

Ans. Some important methods of language-teaching methods are as follows:

(1) Grammar Translation method: The grammar–translation method is a method

of teaching foreign languages derived from the classical (sometimes called traditional)
method of teaching Greek and Latin. In grammar–translation classes, students learn
grammatical rules and then apply those rules by translating sentences between the
target language and the native language. Advanced students may be required to
translate whole texts word-for-word. The method has two main goals: to enable
students to read and translate literature written in the source language, and to further
students’ general intellectual development. The biggest limitation of this method is
that the children do not acquire proficiency in listening and speaking the language.

(2) Communicative method: Communicative language teaching (CLT), or the

communicative method, is an approach to language teaching that emphasizes
interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of study. Language learners in
environments utilizing CLT techniques learn and practice the target language through
interaction with one another and the instructor, study of “authentic texts” (those
written in the target language for purposes other than language learning), and use of
the language in class combined with use of the language outside of class. Learners
converse about personal experiences with partners, and instructors teach topics
outside of the realm of traditional grammar in order to promote language skills in all
types of situations. This method also claims to encourage learners to incorporate their
personal experiences into their language learning environment and focus on the
learning experience in addition to the learning of the target language. According to
CLT, the goal of language education is the ability to communicate in the target
language.

(3) Natural Approach: The Natural Approach is a language learning theory

developed by Drs. Stephen Krashen of USC and Tracy Terrell of the University of
California, San Diego. This method gives maximum attention to the fact that in
language teaching the focus should not be on the teacher or the teaching-learning
material but on the learner (student). This fact was also affected by researches done in

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linguistics. From these researches it also became clear that making mistakes is an
essential step in the process of acquiring language. On analyzing these errors it was
also found that these errors are in fact indicators of a child’s knowledge and learning
process.

The theory is based on the radical notion that we all learn language in the same way.
According to this method, children have innate ability to acquire language from birth.
A 4-year old internalizes the rules of her language and does not make mistakes in
speaking even before entering school. That is why the Natural Approach focuses on
giving the child a tension free environment for learning language as well as providing
interesting and challenging teaching–learning material of their level.

(4) Audio Lingual Method: With the outbreak of World War II armies needed to
become orally proficient in the languages of their allies and enemies as quickly as
possible. This teaching technique was initially called the Army Method, and was the
first to be based on linguistic theory and behavioral psychology.

Or

“Creation of suitable environment is an important pre-requisite for language

learning”. Discuss.

Ans. Even though we have the sensory organs and the tendency to speak, no child can
learn language until she hears it being spoken and practises speech. Each child learns
the language of her group-the way she speaks, the words she uses and the accent of
her speech. The child who grows up without contact with people, she cannot speak
normally and it will be difficult to teach her later. Also the children who are hard of
hearing or deaf, begin to babble at the same time as other children but after some time
the amount of babbling decreases, since they do not get a feedback. If not provided a
hearing aid, the child will grow up they do not get a feedback. If not provided a
hearing aid, the child will grow up without learning to speak. This brings out the
importance of environmental factors in language acquisition.

Research studies have shown that when parents are sensitive to the child’s speech and
respond to her utterances, the child’s language develops. A rich language environment
leads to better speech development. We know that children living in institutions
generally show lower levels of language development compared to children in

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families. A positive emotional relationship with the parents helps the child to feel
secure and lays the foundation for language acquisition.

It is clear that the child must be maturationally ready to learn to speak and must get
opportunities for hearing and practicing speech. Adults and older children help the
infant in acquiring language, especially during the first year of the child’s life, in the
following ways:

(i) Caregivers, whether adults or children, keep their language simple when they are
talking to infants, especially those only a few months old. They use short and simple
sentences, speak in an exaggerated manner and do not use pronouns like ‘I’ or ‘you’
since these are difficult for the infant to understand. Adults call out the child’s name
rather than saying ‘you’ and call themselves ‘mummy’, ‘daddy’ or ‘aunty’ rather than
‘I’. They also produce nonsense sounds, i.e. those which have no meaning, but which
the child delights to hear. They respond to the child’s cooing and babbling by talking
to her, imitating her and encouraging her. Most of this modification in the way of
talking is
instinctive. Caregivers also see what type of speech the infant responds to most and
then use that in their interactions.

(ii) When the infant is around 4-5 months of age, the caregivers begin to show them
toys and household objects. While showing these they refer to them by their names
and describe them a little. Siblings delight in such activities with the baby and are
untiring in their efforts to attract her attention to an object. By 6-7 months the infant
also begins to point at objects, picks them up and shows them to people. This
increases the interaction between caregivers and the child. By the time the infant is 7-
8 months old, the family members also begin to talk about what is going on around
the child. They refer to their own actions and the actions of the child. While walking
with the infant on the road the father, on seeing a fruit seller, is likely to say: “Banto,
look! Bananas! See, there! Banto, eats banana everyday, don’t you? It tastes good,
mm……?”

Thus, in a normal environment, the child is continuously surrounded by people who

talk to each other and her. The infant picks up new words from the context in which
they are spoken and in this manner her language develops.

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(iii) Lullabies and songs are a delightful part of the caregiver-child relationship.
There is hardly anyone of us who grew up without hearing them. Some of the songs
refer to everyday events like eating, bathing and sleeping. Some of them are about
myths and stories. Infants enjoy the rhythm of the lullabies greatly. In addition, they
also learn new words. In this way, by 6-7 months the infant begins to recognize the
sound and meaning of commonly used words. The infant is able to understand
language not because she understands all the words that we use. She may understand
one or two words but she relies on the gestures used; the tone of the voice and the
context in which they are spoken. When the father says: “No, don’t touch that!”, the
child is able to understand because he points to the forbidden object, shakes his head
and raises his voice to convey anger or anxiety. This brings us to another aspect of
language development that we must keep in mind. At any age, the child is able to
comprehend more than she is able to speak.

(iv) When children are around 9-10 months of age, parents and relatives begin to play
language games with them. They say a word like “bye-bye” and encourage the child
to reproduce it. They also teach her to wave by showing her the gesture. Increasing
competency in language helps the baby to interact with more people and form
relationships with them and this helps in her social and emotional development.
Language helps her to learn about people and objects. Thus, we see that language
influences development of cognition and social relationships. This shows how
development in one area influences development in other areas as well.

Q2. Critically analyse any two methods which can be used to develop ‘writing
skills’ for their strengths and limitations.

Ans. Writing is an important form of communication and a key part of education. It

takes time to develop strong writing skills, and it can be a tough task to accomplish.
Following are some of the activities to develop writing skills among lower classes:

(1) Picture composition: The teacher can give a picture to students and ask them to
write about it. This writing can include a wide variety of compositions. They may be
asked to write a story, to describe the picture, to write a dialogue between the
characters, to fill in a missing gap in the picture and write about it, etc. When a series
of pictures depicting a story is provided, they can be asked to write the story.

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(2) Continuing the story: The teacher can tell the beginning of a story, and can ask
to write what they think happened next.

(3) Independent writing: The teacher can as to children to write about something
that they evidently show great interest in or something that they talk about a lot. This
will not only help to develop writing skills, but may point the teacher towards more
techniques for facilitating learning.

(4) Dictation: The teacher can speak aloud some words and ask the children to write
them to see if they are able to link the spoken sounds to their written forms.

(5) Developing stories from given outlines: The teacher can give a rough outline of
a story in the form of a series of words and phrases, and then ask to build a story using
these words and phrases.

(6) Last-letter-first: The teacher can make some groups of students and ask to write
down words one by one, such that the first letter of the word they write is the last
letter of the word that came before. Through this activity, the teacher can identify the
problem areas without pointing them out directly to the child.

(7) Topic of interest: The teacher can let children talk about a topic of their interest
and write down what they have said. This will clarify the communicative purpose of
writing and will clarify the link between speech and writing.

(8) Rhyming words: The teacher can ask to students to come up with words which
rhyme with the given word, or are similar in sound of the given word.

Higher forms of writing are taught in schools for the development of expression,
creativity and communicative ability. Those higher forms are as follows:

(1) Paragraph writing: Paragraph writing remains one of the most important parts
of writing. The paragraph serves as a container for each of the ideas of an essay or
other piece of writing. It helps children learn how to think and write focusing on one
theme. It is a good exercise for encouraging young children to express themselves
coherently and also forms the basis for essay writing. It is advisable to ask children to
write about things that they find relevant to their lives.

(2) Essay writing: An essay is a short piece of writing that discusses, describes and
analyses one topic. It can discuss a subject directly or indirectly, seriously or
humorously. Essay writing is the most important branch of composition. In the

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process of essay writing, the student has to gather up ideas associated with the topic,
analyze them, reject the irrelevant ideas and choose the relevant ones. This process
acts as health tonic to the powers of the mind of the student. His intelligence grows
keener, reason sharper and imagination livelier.

(3) Letter writing: Unlike essays, letters have a very specific communicative
purpose. Therefore, they do not require the elaboration of points as required in essays.
On the other hand, they do require a certain skill in writing to communicate. The style
of writing will vary according to the writer’s relationship with the recipient. The
writer needs to understand how the recipient will react to the content of their message.

(4) Story writing: Writing stories is something every child is asked to do in school,
and many children write stories in their free time, too. By writing story, children learn
to organize their thoughts and use written language to communicate with readers in a
variety of ways. Writing stories also helps children better read, and understand, stories
written by other people.

Story writing should be introduced when children are beginning to write, so that their
imagination aids their writing skills and also for older children. In the case of the
latter, the aims of this exercise remain roughly the same. However, promotion of
thinking skills and imaginative faculties is emphasised over learning of language. As
children grow, they are expected to regard issues from different perspectives, engage
in problem solving and appreciate the aesthetic qualities of writing. These skills
develop through an affinity with different forms of literature. By the time they get to
senior classes, children have been exposed to different forms of literature such as
poems, stories, plays etc., and these further help in the development of thinking and
story writing skills. In turn, story writing helps generate interest in literature and
language.

(5) Poetry writing: Writing poetry is a transferable skill that will help children write
in other ways and styles. Children in smaller classes usually know only those poems
which include rhyming words. Younger children enjoy rhyme and rhyming words
help in generating interest and in giving children an impression of words, because of
which they can read easily. Rhyming words can also generate interest in writing and
develop the skill of writing on the basis of sound. Therefore, small poem making
activities may be taken up with young children. Children can be asked to make up

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poems either individually or in groups, with their peers. This can be an enjoyable
activity.

Or

“Real assessment of children’s performance should be continuous and

comprehensive in its nature”. Justify.

Ans. Continuous and comprehensive assessment (CCA) emphasises on two fold

objectives. These are continuity in assessment and assessment of all aspects of
learning. Thus the term ‘continuous’ refers to assessment on intermittent basis rather
than a onetime event. When the assessment exercises are conducted in short intervals
on regular basis, the assessment tends to become continuous. In other words, it can be
said that if the time interval between two consecutive assessment events can be
lessened or minimised then the assessment will become continuous. In order to make
the assessment process continuous, the assessment activities must be spread over the
whole academic year. It means regularity of assessment, frequent unit testing,
diagnosis of the learning difficulty of the learners, using corrective measures,
providing feedback to the learners regarding their progress, etc. will have
to happen maximally.

The second term ‘comprehensive’ means assessment of both scholastic and co-
scholastic aspect of student’s development. Since all the abilities of the learners’
development cannot be assessed through written and oral activities, there is a need to
employ variety of tools and techniques (both testing and non-testing techniques) for
the assessment of all the aspects of learners’ development.

‘Continuous’ is generally considered by teachers as a regular conduct of ‘tests’. Many

schools are practicing weekly tests in the name of continuous assessment in all
subjects. ‘Comprehensive’ is considered as combining various aspects of child’s
behaviour in isolation. Personal-social qualities (empathy, cooperation, self-discipline,
taking initiatives etc.) are judged in isolation and are being graded on four/five point
scale, which appears impractical.

By continuously observing the learners to see what they know and can do, the teacher
can make sure that no learner fails. Everyone is given a chance to succeed and more
attention is given to children who were falling behind. Continuous assessment process
fosters cooperation between the student and teacher. While the student learns to

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consult the teacher, classmates and other sources on aspects of her/his project work;
the teacher is able to offer remedial help for further improvement in learning.

Comprehensive component means getting a sense of ‘holistic’ development of child’s

progress. Progress cannot be made in a segregated manner, that is, cognitive aspects,
personal-social qualities, etc. After completion of a chapter/theme, teacher would like
to know whether children have learnt (assessment of learning) as s/he expected based
on lesson’s objectives/learning points. For that, s/he broadly identifies the objectives
of the lesson and spells out learning indicators. The teacher designs activities based on
expected learning indicators. These activities need to be of varied nature. Through
these questions/activities she would assess the learners and that data would be one
kind of summative data of a lesson/theme. Such assessment data must be recorded by
the teacher. Likewise
in one quarter, she/he would cover 7-8 lessons/topics and in this manner she/he would
have substantial data covering varied aspects of child’s behaviour. It would provide
data on how the child was working in groups, doing paper-pencil test, drawing
pictures, reading picture, expressing orally, composing a poem/song, etc. These data
would give ‘comprehensive’ picture of child’s learning and development.

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ASSIGNMENT-III

Q1. With suitable example discuss the role of drama, theatre and play in
developing students’ core skills in language.

Ans. The use of drama/play/theater has been used over the course of history from the
time of Aristotle, who believed that theater provided people a way to release
emotions, right to the beginning of the progressive movement in education, where
emphasis was placed upon “doing” rather than memorizing. Integrating drama helps
children in various ways. Using plays with children can:

 Improve their reading and speaking skills

 Encourage creativity

 Help them experiment with language – tone of voice, body language and
their own lines if they are involved in writing the play.

 Bring them out of themselves – some students like performing or find the
script gives them confidence.

 • Involve the whole class – non-speaking parts can be given to learners

who do not wish to speak or are less confident.

In order to use drama as a linguistic activity, two features need to be included –

freedom and enjoyment. No special preparation is needed by the teacher or children
for conducting drama in the classroom. The teacher only needs to encourage the
children to share their experiences naturally. At the primary level: any incident, story
or cartoon that children see in their environment can be taken up for acting. For
example, any animal, its movement, its complexion, etc. At upper primary level, the
teacher should motivate children so that they form small groups wherein they
themselves decide the topic, write the dialogues and act it out. At the same time,
children should be encouraged to act out traditional games and folk tales as this will
not only enhance their creativity but also connect them to their cultural environments.

We can enact or write the script for any play or drama. What grade would each learner
get on the script written by her depends upon whether what has to be expressed is
emerging in the dialogues written by him/her. We need to check if learner is able to

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explain his/her ideas? Is (s)he able to use words other than the words already used in
the original text of drama. Are the dialogues simple, crisp and interesting? These can
be the main points for assessment for drama.

Example 1

Characters:

(1) Rama, the singer

(2) Madhu, Rama’s wife

(3) Neighbors.

Rama: (sits with his harmonium and practices singing).

Do, Re, Me, Fa, So, La, Te, Do

Ist Neighbor: (to Rama’s wife) Madhu, ask your husband to stop singing. It gives me
a headache.

2nd Neighbor: He thinks himself to be a good singer but he’s awful.

3rd Neighbor: He hardly sings. He croaks like a frog.

4th Neighbor: He’s indeed disgusting.

(Neighbors go out)

Rama: (Continues singing) Doe, a deer, A female deer

Ray – A Drop of golden sun

Me – A Name I call myself….

1st Neighbor: All our requests have fallen on deaf ears.

2nd Neighbor: We’ll have to teach him a lesson.

3rd Neighbor: He’s as stubborn as a mule.

4th Neighbor: (Throws a shoe at him)

Rama: No one in this village admires my talent.

Madhu: (Comes from the kitchen) Don’t worry. You keep on singing.

That person will throw the second shoe also and we will have a pair of shoes.

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Following questions may be asked to children:

(1) What other title would you like to give to this play?

(2) Which character do you admire most in this play? Why?

(3) (a) What is the name of Rama’s wife?

(b) Does Madhu enjoy Rama’s singing?

(4) The 4th Neighbor throws a shoe at Rama. Suppose it falls on his face.

What would happen next? Complete the play in the same form (dialogue from) as
given above.

(5) Write a conversation between you and your friend about playing some game
together.

(6) Write a paragraph on something or someone that disturbs you in your day-to-day
life. Describe how you would tackle the problem peacefully.

(7) Enact the play in groups.

Example 2nd: CLEVER BHOLA

Characters: Bhola, the villager

Bhola’s wife – Diya

Bhola’s child

Dabbu, the robber

Narrator: One day, Bhola was going to a nearby village. He had to cross a dense
jungle. Suddenly a voice stopped him.

Dabbu: Stop. Stop I said. If you move I’ll shoot you.

Divya: We are poor people. We have nothing with us.

Dabbu: Nonsense! Everyone says so. Give me whatever you have or I will kill you
all.

Bhola: No. No. Leave us all. I’ll give you my wallet.

Dabbu: Ha!Ha!Ha! See how I befooled you. There are no bullets in this gun…. ha ha
ha ha!

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Bhola: Ha! Ha! Ha. ha ha!

Dabbu: Why the hell are you laughing?

Bhola: I also befooled you. There is no money in that wallet.

Dabbu: What!

Bhola: You thought yourself to be very smart. Ha! Ha! Ha!

These questions may be asked to children:

(1) What other title would you like to give to this play?

(2) If you were Bhola what would you have done in the same situation?

(3) (a) What was Dabbu carrying with him? Why?

(b) Why did Divya say that they are poor people?

(4) Suppose Dabbu takes out some bullets after Bhola befools him. Complete the
play in the same form (dialogue form) as given above.

(5) Write the play in story form.

(6) Enact the play in groups.

Or

Develop a comprehensive plan of activities for language learning using ‘word

cards’ and ‘picture cards’.

Ans. One purpose of the cards in the context of language teaching is to help children
learn to decode. We can give them picture cards to match with word cards. We can
also ask them to take a word card and find a word card which is similar to this one.
They can put together word cards and make a story. Similarly, pictures and picture
cards can be used for conversations, discussions, extending imagination, opportunities
for creating descriptions and thinking of stories. These exercises can be initially oral
and then can also be written. The cards can be used for any class through activities at
different levels with different objectives. For example, think about the use of word
cards for class-1 and then for class – 3.

It is clear that one material can be used for many purposes and their use is informed
by the objectives and understanding of learning and teaching. If we consider all this
then we can see that TLM is only useful when the person using it understands what

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the children have to learn, the steps for it and activities that can be used for it.
Obviously, children have to be able to engage with these activities. Once this happens
then it is not difficult to find materials for it around us.

Preparation of Picture Cards: Find or draw a set of 10-20 picture of people, places,
animals and objects. Make copies of the picture set on card stock so we have one set
for each student in class. In large letters, print the name of each picture on a separate
card.

Step 1: Distribute picture card sets to students.

Step 2: Hold up each name card one at a time. Read the name aloud. Hold up the
matching picture card. Cue students to repeat the name and hold up their matching
picture cards. Repeat this activity two or three times, if appropriate, for practice.

Step 3: Randomly select a name card from the set. Hold it up and say the name aloud.
Cue students to say the name and hold up the matching picture card.

Step 4: Repeat the activity without showing the name card. Say the name of each
picture and cue students to repeat the name and hold up the appropriate picture card.

Step 5: This time around hold up a word card but do not say the word aloud. Students
say the word and hold up the matching picture card.

Step 6: For the final go-round do not display the word cards. Simply pronounce a
word and ask students to hold up the correct picture card.

“Picture and Word” cards can be used at home, in therapy, and throughout a classroom
in multiple activities and learning centers. They are beautiful large picture cards that
we can customize to meet children needs. Following are few ideas:

(1) Word Wall: These large cards are great for display on a word wall. Word walls
may focus on vocabulary and/or sight words.

(2) Class Stories: Display preselected picture and word cards for students to
incorporate in a class story. For example place girl, boy, some animals, and food. As
the class write a story together on large chart paper, children may be called to offer
“what happens next” in the story. The cards may offer visual support for ideas the
story such as “There was a girl who met a turtle. The turtle asked the girl, ‘do you
have any apples?’….”

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(3) Story Characters: Offer the picture and word cards prior to a story in teaching
about characters. “Today we are going to read a story about a girl and three bears”.
Or, after a story is read aloud, display picture cards which include the story characters.
Ask the students to identify who the main characters in the story are.

(4) Labeling the classroom: Use Picture and Word cards to label items around the
classroom. We can use our own photos of classroom materials by uploading pictures
on “Our Lesson Pix” page if needed. Labeling creates a print-rich environment that
links objects with pictures and with words, and giving meaning to print.

(5) Scavenger Hunt: Create groups of pictures that correspond with a unit of study or
targeted phonemes. Hide the pictures around a designated area and have the students
hunt for the picture cards. When they find the picture, they can share what they found
with the group.

(6) Language Master: If we have a Language Master machine, we may print and
attach the picture and word cards to blank Language Master cards.

A Language Master Machine is a recorder /player that has cards which slide through
the machine. These cards have a strip that has a prerecorded and/or allows the
teacher /therapist to record their voice. When the card is put through the machine, the
audio is played. Many Special Education teachers and Speech Pathologist use a
Language Master to reinforce learning concepts.

(7) Vocabulary Development: Create Picture and Word Cards to teach a vocabulary
word(s) of the week. There are Level 1 words which are more concrete and Level 2
words which are more abstract or have multiple meanings. Some early childhood
classrooms select one or two words for a week to practice, find, and use. To
differentiate instruction, the teacher may select one level 1 and one level 2 word per
week to focus on. For example, when talking about feelings at the beginning of the
year, a level 1 word may be “mad” and a level 2 word may be “bursting” (burst a
balloon, bursting through a door, bursting with anger, bursting with excitement).

(8) Word Hunt: Give each student a Picture and Word Card. Have them hunt through
specific books for the matching word.

(9) What’s Missing?: Place 4-5 Picture and Word cards out for the students to see.
Collect them and pull one card out. (Make sure the children don’t see it!) Place the

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remaining cards out on display and have students guess which Picture and Word card
is missing.

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